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OF A SPY 


BY 

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 

SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL 


% 


CURTIS BROWN 

INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING BUREAU 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 
1915 




V 


THE REMINISCENCES 
OF A SPY 


BY 


ri a. 


LIEUTENANT-GENERAL 

SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL ' 


CURTIS BROWN 

INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING BUREAU 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 
1915 



Copyright, 1915 

By SIR ROBERT BADEN-POWELL 


JAN -8 1915 

© Cl. A 3 912 7 4 

r 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A 

SPY 


SPYING 

It has been difficult to write in peace-time on the delicate subject 
of spies and spying but now that the war is in progress and the 
methods of those much abused gentry have been disclosed, there 
is no harm in going more fully into the question, and to relate 
some of my own personal experiences. 

Spies are like ghosts — people seem to have had a general feel¬ 
ing that there might be such things, but they did not at the same 
time believe in them — because they never saw them, and seldom 
met anyone who had had first-hand experience, of them. But as 
regards the spies, I can speak with personal knowledge in saying 
that they do exist, and in very large numbers, not only in Eng¬ 
land, but in every part of Europe. 

As in the case of ghosts, any phenomenon which people don’t 
understand, from a sudden crash on a quiet day to a midnight 
creak of a cupboard, has an effect of alarm upon nervous minds. 
So also a spy is spoken of with undue alarm and abhorrence, 
because he is somewhat of a bogey. 

I should like, therefore, as a first step to disabuse people’s minds 
of the idea that every spy is necessarily the base and despicable 
fellow he is so often held to be. 

The term “spy” is used rather indiscriminately, and has by 
use come to be a term of contempt. As a misapplication of 
the term “spy” the case of Major Andre always seems to me 
to have been rather a hard one. He was a Swiss by birth, and 
during the American War of Independence in 1780 joined the 
British Army in Canada, where he ultimately became A.D.C. to 
General Sir H. Clinton. 

The American commander of a fort near West Point, on the 
Hudson River, had hinted that he wanted to surrender, and Sir 
H. Clinton sent Andre to treat with him. In order to get through 
the American lines Andre dressed himself in plain clothes and 
took the name of John Anderson. He was unfortunately caught 
by the Americans and tried by court martial and hanged as a spy. 

As he was not trying to get information, it seems scarcely right 
to call him a spy. Many people took this view at the time, and 
George III. gave his mother a pension, as well as a title to his 

1 


2 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


brother, and his body was ultimately dug up and re-interred in 
Westminster Abbey. 

THE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF SPIES. 

Let us for the moment change the term “ spy ” to “ investiga¬ 
tor ” or “ military agent.” For war purposes these agents may 
be divided into : 

1. Strategical and diplomatic agents, who study the political 
and military conditions in peace time of all other countries which 
might eventually be in opposition to their own in war. These 
also create political disaffection and organise outbreaks, such, for 
instance, as spreading sedition amongst Egyptians, or in India 
amongst the inhabitants, or in South Africa amongst the Boer 
population, to bring about an outbreak, if possible, in order to 
create confusion and draw off troops in time of war. 

2. Tactical, military, or naval agents, who look into minor de¬ 
tails of armament and terrain in peace time. These also make 
tactical preparations on the spot, such as material for extra 
bridges, gun emplacements, interruption of communications, etc. 

3. Field spies. Those who act as scouts in disguise to recon¬ 
noitre positions and to report moves of the enemy in the field of 
war. Amongst these are Residential Spies and Officer Agents. 

All these duties are 'again subdivided among agents of every 
grade, from ambassadors and their attaches downwards. Naval 
and military officers are sent to carry out special investigations 
by all countries, and paid detectives are stationed in likely cen¬ 
tres to gather information. 

There are also traitor spies. For these I allow I have not a 
good word. They are men who sell their countries’ secrets for 
money. Fortunately we are not much troubled with them in 
England. But we have had a notorious example in South Africa. 

STRATEGICAL AGENTS. 

The war treason — that is, preliminary political and strategical 
investigation — of the Germans in the present campaign has not 
been such a success as might have been expected from a scheme 
so wonderfully organised as it has been. With the vast sums 
spent upon it, the German General Staff might reasonably have 
obtained men in a higher position in life who could have gauged 
the political atmosphere better than was done by their agents 
immediately before the present crisis. 

Their plans for starting strikes at a critical time met with no 
response whatever; they had great ideas of stirring up strife and 
discontent among the Mohammedan populations both in Egypt 
and in India, but they calculated without knowing enough of the 
Eastern races or of their feelings towards Great Britain and 
Germany — more especially Germany. 

They looked upon the Irish question as being a certainty for 
civil war in Britain, and one which would necessitate the em- 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


3 


ployment of a large proportion of our expeditionary force within 
our own islands. 

They never foresaw that the Boer and Briton would be work¬ 
ing amicably in South Africa; they had supposed that the army 
of occupation there could never be removed, and did not foresee 
that South Africa would be sending a contingent against their 
South African colonies while the regulars came to strengthen 
our army at home. 

They imagined the Overseas Dominions were too weak in men 
and ships and training to be of any use; and they never foresaw 
that the manhood of Great Britain would come forward in vast 
numbers to take up arms for which their national character has 
to a large extent given them the necessary qualifications. All this 
might have been discovered if the Germans had employed men 
of a higher education and social position. 

TACTICAL AGENTS. 

In addition to finding out military details about a country, such 
as its preparedness in men, supplies, efficiency, and so on, these 
agents have to study the tactical features of hills and plains, 
roads and railways, rivers and woods, and even the probable 
battlefields and their artillery positions, dnd so on. 

The Germans in the present war have been using the huge 
guns whose shells, owing to their black, smoky explosions, have 
been nicknamed “Black Marias” or “Jack Johnsons.” These 
guns require strong concrete foundations for them to stand upon 
before they can be fired. But the Germans foresaw this long 
before the war, and laid their plans accordingly. 

They examined all the country over which they were likely to 
fight, both in Belgium and in France, and wherever they saw 
good positions for guns they built foundations and emplacements 
for them. This was done in the time of peace, and therefore had 
to be done secretly. In order to divert suspicion, a German would 
buy or rent a farm on which it was desired to build an emplace¬ 
ment. Then he would put down foundations for a new barn or 
farm building, or — if near town — for a factory, and when these 
were complete, he would erect some lightly constructed building 
upon it. 

There was nothing to attract attention or suspicion about this; 
consequently, any amount of these emplacements were made be¬ 
fore the war began. When war broke out and the troops arrived 
on the ground, the buildings were hastily pulled down and there 
were the emplacements all ready for the guns. 

Some years ago a report came to the War Office that a foreign 
Power was making gun emplacements in a position which had 
not before been suspected of being of military value, and they 
were evidently going to use it for strategical purposes. 

I was sent to see whether the report was true. Of course, it 
would not do to go as an officer — suspicions would be aroused, 
one would be allowed to see nothing, and would probably be ar- 


4 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


rested as a spy. I therefore went to stay with a friendly farmer 
in the neighbourhood, and went out shooting every day among 
the partridges and snipe which abounded there. The first thing 
I did was to look at the country generally, and try to think which 
points would be most valuable as positions for artillery. 

Then I went to look for partridges (and other things!) on 
the hills which I had noticed, and I very soon found what I 
wanted. 

Officers were there, taking angles and measurements, accompa¬ 
nied by workmen, who were driving pegs into the ground and 
marking off lines with tapes between them. 

As I passed with my gun in my hand, bag on shoulder, and 
dog at heel, they paid no attention to me, and from the neigh¬ 
bouring hills I was able to watch their proceedings. 

When they went away to their meals or returned to their quar¬ 
ters, I went shooting over the ground they had left, and if I did 
not get a big bag of game, at any rate I made a good collection 
of drawings and measurements of the plans of the forts and 
emplacements which they had traced out on the ground. 

So that within a few days of their starting to make them we 
had the plans of them all in our possession. Although they after¬ 
wards planted trees all over the sites to conceal the forts within 
them, and put up buildings in other places to hide them, we 
knew perfectly well where the emplacements were and what were 
their shapes and sizes. 

This planting of trees to hide such defence works occasionally 
has the other effect, and shows one where they are. This was 
notably the case at Tsingtau, lately captured by the Japanese and 
British forces from the Germans. As there were not any nat¬ 
ural woods there, I had little difficulty in finding where the forts 
were by reason of the plantations of recent growth in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the place. 


RESIDENTIAL SPIES. 

These men take up their quarters more or less permanently in 
the country of their operations. A few are men in high places 
in the social or commercial world, and are generally nouveaux 
riches, anixous for decorations and rewards. But most of the 
residential spies are of a more insignificant class, and in regular 
pay for their work. 

Their duty is to act as agents to receive and distribute in¬ 
structions secretly to other itinerant spies, and to return their re¬ 
ports to headquarters. For this reason they are nicknamed in the 
German Intelligence Bureau “ post-boxes.” They also themselves 
pick up what information they can from all available sources 
and transmit it home. 

One, Steinbauer, has for some years past been one of the prin¬ 
cipal “ post-boxes ” in England. > He was attached to the Kaiser’s 
staff during his last visit to this country, when he came as the 
guest of the King to the opening of Queen Victoria’s memorial. 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


5 


A recent case of espionage which was tried in London re¬ 
vealed his methods, one of his agents being arrested after having 
been watched for three years. 

Karl Ernst’s trial confirmed the discoveries and showed up 
the doings of men spies like Schroeder, Gressa, Klare, and others. 

Also the case of Dr. Karl Graves may be still in the memory 
of many. This German was arrested in Scotland for spying, and 
was condemned to eighteen months’ imprisonment, and was 
shortly afterwards released without any reason being officially 
assigned. He has since written a full account of what he did, 
and it is of interest to note how his correspondence passed to 
and from the intelligence headquarters in Germany in envelopes 
fabricated with the name of Messrs. Burroughs and Wellcome, 
the famous chemists. He posed as a doctor, and sent his letters 
through an inn-keeper at Brussels or a modiste in Paris, while 
letters to him came through an obscure tobacconist’s shop in 
London. 

One of these letters miscarried through having the wrong 
initial to his name. It was returned by the Post Office to Bur¬ 
roughs and Wellcome, who on opening it found inside a German 
letter, enclosing bank-notes in return for services rendered. 
This raised suspicion against him. He was watched, and finally 
arrested. 

He states that a feeling that he was being followed dawned 
upon him one day, when he noticed in his lodgings that the 
clothes which he had folded on a chair had been since refolded in 
a slightly different way while he was out. With some suspicion, 
he asked his landlady whether anyone had entered his room, and 
she, in evident confusion, denied that any stranger could have 
been there. Then he suggested that his tailor might have called, 
and she agreed that it was so. But when an hour or two later 
he interviewed his tailor, he, on his part, said he had not been 
near the place. Graves consequently deduced that he was being 
followed. 

The knowledge that you are being watched, and you don’t know 
by whom, gives, I can assure you, a very jumpy feeling — espe¬ 
cially when you know you are guilty. 

I can speak feelingly from more than one experience of it, 
since I have frequently been employed on this form of scouting 
in peace time. 


OFFICER AGENTS. 

It is generally difficult to find ordinary spies who are also suf¬ 
ficiently imbued with technical knowledge to be of use in gaining 
naval or military details. Consequently officers are often em¬ 
ployed to obtain such information in peace time as well as in the 
theatre of action in war. 

But with them, and especially with those of Germany, it is not 
easy to find men who are sufficiently good actors, or who can 
disguise their appearance so well as to evade suspicion. Very 


6 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


many of these have visited our shores during the past few years, 
but they have generally been noticed, watched, and followed, and 
from the line taken by them in their reconnaissance it has been 
easy to deduce the kind of operations contemplated in their plans. 

I remember the case of a party of these motoring through 
Kent nominally looking at old Roman ruins. When they asked 
a landowner for the exact position of some of these he regretted 
he had not a map handy on which he could point out their posi¬ 
tion. One of the “ antiquarians ” at once produced a large scale 
map; but it was not an English map; it had, for instance, de¬ 
tails on it regarding water supply tanks which, though they ex¬ 
isted, were not shown on any of our ordnance maps! 


COMMERCIAL SPYING. 

In addition to the various branches of spying which I have 
mentioned, the Germans have also practised commercial espionage 
on systematic lines. Young Germans have served in British busi¬ 
ness houses without salary in order to “learn the language”; 
they took care to learn a good deal more than the language, and 
picked up many other things about trade methods and secrets 
which were promptly utilised in their own country. The impor¬ 
tance of commercial spying - is that commercial war is all the 
time at the bottom of Germany’s preparations for military war. 

Carl Lody, a German ex-officer, was recently tried in London 
by court martial and shot for “ war treason ”— that is, for send¬ 
ing information regarding our Navy to Germany during hostili¬ 
ties. (“ War treason ” is secret work outside the zone of war 
operations. When carried on within the zone of operations it 
is called spying or “espionage.”) Carl Lody’s moves were 
watched and his correspondence opened by the counter-spy police 
in London, and thus all his investigations and information was 
known to the War Office long before he was arrested. 

INTERNATIONAL SPIES. 

The enormous sums paid by Germany for many years past 
have brought about a sort of international spy exchange, gen¬ 
erally formed by American-Gerrmans, with their headquarters 
in Belgium, and good prices were given for information acquired 
by them. For instance, if the plans of a new fort, or the di¬ 
mensions of a new ship, or the power of a new gun were needed, 
one merely had to apply and state a price to this bureau to re¬ 
ceive fairly good information on the subject before much time 
had elapsed. 

At the same time, by pretending to be an American, one was 
able to get a good deal of minor and useful information with¬ 
out the expenditure of a cent. 

On getting into touch with these gentry, I discovered one of 
the alternative plans by which the Germans proposed to invade 
our country, and incidentally it throw r s some light on their pres- 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


7 


ent rpethods of dealing with the inhabitants as apart from the 
actual tactical movements of the troops. 

The German idea then — some six years ago — was that they 
could, by means of mines and submarines, at any time block the 
traffic in the British Channel in the space of a few hours, thus 
holding our home fleets in their stations at Spithead and Portland. 

With the Straits of Dover so blocked, they could then rush a 
fleet of transports across the North Sea from Germany, to the 
East Coast of England, either East Anglia or, as in this plan, in 
Yorkshire. They had in Germany nine embarking stations, with 
piers and platforms, all ready made, and steel lighters for dis¬ 
embarkation purposes or for actual traversing of the ocean in 
case of fine weather. 

They had taken the average of the weather for years past, 
and had come to the conclusion that July 13th is, on an average, 
the finest day in the year; but their attempt would be timed, if 
possible, to fall on a Bank Holiday, when communications were 
temporarily disorganised. Therefore the nearest Bank Holiday 
to July 13th would probably be that at the beginning of August; 
it was a coincidence that the present war broke out on that day. 

The spies stationed in England were to cut all telephone and 
telegraph wires, and where possible, to blow down important 
bridges and tunnels, and thus to interrupt communications and 
create confusion. 

Their idea of landing on the coast of Yorkshire was based on 
the following reasons: — 

Thej r do not look upon London as strategically the capital of 
England, but rather upon the great industrial centres of the north 
Midlands, where, instead of six millions, there are more like 
fourteen millions of people assembled in the numerous cities and 
towns, which now almost adjoin each other across that part of 
the country. 

Their theory was that if they could rush an army of even 90,- 
000 men into Leeds, Sheffield, Halifax, Manchester, and Liverpool 
without encountering great opposition in the first few hours, they 
could there establish themselves in such strength that it would 
require a powerful army to drive them out again. 

Bringing a week’s provisions with them, and seizing all the 
local provisions, they would have enough to sustain them for a 
considerable time, and the first step of their occupation would be 
to expel every inhabitant — man, woman, and child — from the 
neighbourhood and destroy the towns. Thus, within a few hours, 
some fourteen millions of people would be starving, and wan¬ 
dering without shelter over the face of the country — a disaster 
which would need a large force to deal with, and would cause 
entire disruption of our food supplies and of business in the 
country. 

The East Coast of Yorkshire between the Humber and Scar¬ 
borough lends itself to such an adventure, by providing a good 
open beach for miles, with open country in front of it, which, 
in its turn, is protected by a semicircle of wolds, which could 


8 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


be easily held by the German covering force. Its left would be 
protected by the Humber and the right by the Tees, so that the 
landing could be carried out without interruption. 

That was their plan — based on careful investigation by a small 
army of spies — some five or six years ago, before our naval 
bases had been established in the north. If they had declared 
war then, they might have had no serious interference from our 
Navy during the passage of their transports, which, of course, 
would be protected on that flank by their entire fleet of warships. 

At first glance, it seems too fanciful a plan to commend itself 
to belief, but in talking it over with German officers, I found 
they fully believed in it as a practical proposition. They them¬ 
selves enlarged on the idea of the use that they would thus make 
of the civil population, and foreshadowed their present brutality 
by explaining that when war came, it would not be made with 
kid gloves. The meaning of their commands would be brought 
home to the people by shooting down civilians if necessary, in 
order to prove that they were in earnest, and to force the in¬ 
habitants through terror to comply with their requirements. 

Further investigations on the subject proved that the embarka¬ 
tion arrangements were all planned and prepared for. At any 
time in the ordinary way of commerce there were numerous large 
mail steamers always available in their ports to transport num¬ 
bers even largely in excess of those that would be assembled for 
such an expedition. Troops could be mobilised in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the ports, ostensibly for manoeuvres, without sus¬ 
picion being aroused. 

It is laid down in German strategical text-books that the time 
for making war is not when you have a political cause for it, 
but when your troops are ready and the enemy is unready; and 
and that to strike the first blow is the best way to declare war. 

I recounted all this at the time in a private lecture to officers, 
illustrated with lantern slides and maps, as a military problem 
which would be interesting to work out on the actual ground, 
and it was not really until the report of this leaked into the 
papers that I realised how nearly I had “ touched the spot.” For, 
apart from the various indignant questions with which the Sec¬ 
retary of State for War was badgered in the House of Commons 
on my account, I was assailed with letters from Germany of most 
violent abuse from various quarters, high and low, which showed 
me that I had gone nearer the truth than I had even suspected. 
“You are but a brown-paper general,” said one, “and if you 
think that by your foolish talk you are to frighten us from com¬ 
ing you are not right.” 


FIELD SPIES. 

It is difficult to say where exactly a spy’s work ends in war, and 
that of a scout begins, except that, as a rule, the first is carried 
out in disguise. 

The scout is looked up to as a brave man, and his expedients 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


9 


for gaining information are thought wonderfully clever, so long 
as he remains in uniform. If he goes a bit further, and finds 
that he can get his information better by adopting a disguise — 
even at the greater risk to himself through the certainty of being 
shot if he is found out — then he is looked down upon as a 
“ despicable spy.” I don’t see the justice of it myself. 

A good spy — no matter which country he serves — is of ne¬ 
cessity a brave and valuable fellow. 

In our Army we do not make a very wide use of field spies 
on service, though their partial use at manoeuvres has shown 
what they can do. 

In “ Aids to Scouting ” I have stated: “ In the matter of spy¬ 
ing we are behind other nations. Spying, in reality, is reconnais¬ 
sance in disguise. Its effects are so far-reaching that most na¬ 
tions, in order to deter enemies’ spies, threaten them with death 
if caught.” 

As an essential part of scouting, I gave a chapter of hints on 
how to spy, and how to catch other people spying. 

CATCHING A SPY. 

Spy-catching was once one of my duties, and is perhaps the 
best form of education towards successful spying. I had been 
lucky enough to nail three and was complimented by one of the 
senior officers on the Commander-in-Chief’s staff. We were rid¬ 
ing home together from a big review at the time that he was 
talking about it, and he remarked, “ How do you set about catch¬ 
ing a spy ? ” I told him of our methods and added that also 
luck very often came in and helped one. 

Just in front of us, in the crowd of vehicles returning from 
the review-ground, was an open hired Victoria in which sat a 
foreign-looking gentleman. I remarked that as an instance this 
was the sort of man I should keep an eye upon, and I shall 
quietly follow him till I found where he lodged and then put a 
detective on to report his moves. 

From our position on horseback close behind him we were able 
to see that our foreigner was reading a guide book and was study¬ 
ing a map of the fortifications through which we were passing. 
Suddenly he called to the driver to stop for a moment while he 
lit a match for his cigarette. The driver pulled up, and so did 
we. The stranger glanced up to see that the man was not look¬ 
ing round, and then quickly slipped a camera from under the 
rug which was lying on the seat in front of him, and taking aim 
at the entrance shaft to a new ammunition store which had just 
been made for our Navy, he took a snap-shot 

Then hurriedly covering up the camera again he proceeded to 
strike matches and to light his cigarette. Then he gave the word 
to drive on again. 

We followed close behind till we came to where a policeman 
was regulating the traffic. I rode ahead and gave him his in¬ 
structions so that the carriage was stopped, and the man was 


10 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


asked to show his permit to take photographs. He had none. 
The camera was taken into custody and the name and address 
of the owner taken “ with a. view to further proceedings.” 

Unfortunately at that time — it was many years ago — we were 
badly handicapped by our laws in the matter of arresting and 
punishing spies. By-laws allowed us to confiscate and smash un¬ 
authorised cameras, and that was all. 

“ Further proceedings,” had they been possible, in this case 
would have been unnecessary, for the suspected gentleman took 
himself off to the Continent by the very next boat. 

But it took a good deal to persuade my staff-officer friend 
that the whole episode was not one faked up for his special edi¬ 
fication. 

It is only human to hate to be outwitted by one more clever 
than yourself, and perhaps that accounts for people disliking 
spies with a more deadly hatred than that which they bestow on 
a man who drops bombs from an aeroplane indiscriminately on 
women and children, or who bombards cathedrals with infernal 
engines of war. 

Nobody could say that my native spy in South Africa, Jan 
Grootboom, was either a contemptible or mean kind of man. He 
was described by one who knew him as “ a white man in a 
black skin,” and I heartily endorse the description. 

Here is an instance of his work as a field spy: — 

Jan Grootboom was a Zulu by birth, but having lived much 
with white men, as a hunter and guide, he had taken to wearing 
ordinary clothes and spoke English perfectly well; but within him 
he had all the pluck and cunning of his race. 

For scouting against the Matabele it was never wise to take a 
large party, since it would be sure to attract attention, whereas 
by going alone with one man, such as Grootboom, one was able 
to penetrate their lines and to lie hid almost among them, watch¬ 
ing their disposition and gaining information as to their numbers, 
supplies, and whereabouts of their women and cattle, etc. 

Now, every night was spent at this work — that is to say, the 
night was utilised for creeping to their positions, and one watched 
them during the day. But it was impossible to do this without 
leaving footmarks and tracks, which the sharp eyes of their 
scouts were not slow to discover, and it very soon dawned upon 
them that they were being watched, and consequently they were 
continually on the look-out to waylay and capture us. 

One night Grootboom and I had ridden to the neighbourhood 
of one of the enemy’s camps, and were lying waiting for the 
early dawn before we could discover exactly where they were 
located. 

It was during the hour before sunrise that, as a rule, the enemy 
used to light their fires for cooking their early morning food. 
One could thus see exactly their position, and could rectify one’s 
own, so as to find a place where one could lie by during the day 
and watch their movements. 

On this occasion the first fire was lit and then another sparkled 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


ii 


up, and yet another, but before half a dozen had been lighted 
Grootboom suddenly growled under his breath: — 

“ The swine — they are laying a trap for us.” 

I did not understand at the moment what he meant, but he 
said: — 

“ Stop here for a bit, and I will go and look.” 

Y He slipped off all his clothing and left it lying in a heap, and 
stole away in the darkness, practically naked. Evidently he was 
going to visit them to see what was going on. 

The worst of spying is that it makes you always suspicious, 
even of your best friends. So, as soon as Grootboom was gone in 
one direction, I quietly crept away in another, and got among 
some rocks in a small kopje, where I would be comparatively 
safe if he had any intention of betraying me and returning with 
a few Matabele to capture me. 

For an hour or two I lay there, until presently I saw Groot¬ 
boom creeping back through the grass alone. 

Ashamed of my doubts, I therefore came out and down to our 
rendezvous, and found him grinning all over with satisfaction 
while he was putting on his clothes again. He said that he had 
found as he had expected, an ambush laid for us. The thing 
that had made him suspicious was that the fires, instead of 
lighting up all over the hillside at different points about the 
same time, had been lighted in steady succession one after an¬ 
other, evidently by one man going round. This struck him as 
suspicious, and he then assumed that it was done to lead us on 
to go and examine more closely the locality if we were anywhere 
around. 

He had crept in towards them by a devious path, from which 
he was able to perceive a whole party of Matabele lying low 
in the grass by the track which we should probably have used 
in getting there, and they would have pounced on us and cap¬ 
tured us. 

To make sure of this suspicion he crept down to their strong¬ 
hold, as if one of themselves, and, having got in among them, 
he chatted away with them, finding out what was their intention 
with regard to ourselves, and also what were their plans for the 
near future. Then, having left them, and walked boldly back 
towards their stronghold, he crept away amongst some rocks and 
regained our rendezvous. 

His was an example of the work of a field spy which, although 
in a way it may be cunning and deceitful, at the same time de¬ 
mands the greatest personal courage and astuteness. It is some¬ 
thing greater than the ordinary bravery of a soldier in action, 
who is carried on by the enthusiasm of those around him under 
the leadership of an officer, and with the competition and ad¬ 
miration of others. 

The pluck of the man who goes out alone, unobserved, and 
unapplauded, and at the imminent risk of his life, is surely 
equally great. . 

The Boers used field spies freely against us in South Africa. 


12 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


One English-speaking Boer used to boast how during the war 
he made frequent visits to Johannesburg dressed in the uniform 
taken from a British major who had been killed in action. He 
used to ride past the sentries, who, instead of shooting him, 
merely saluted, and he frequented the clubs and other resorts 
of the officers, picking up such information as he required 
from them first hand, till evening came, and he was able to ride 
back to his commando. 


CONVEYING INFORMATION. 


On our side various methods were adopted of conveying infor¬ 
mation in the field. My spies employed native runners (especially 
the most astute cattle-thieves) to take their despatches to me. 
These were naturally written in cypher or secret code, in Hin- 



Fig. i. These hieroglyphics contain a secret message which can be easily 
read by those who know the semaphore signalling code. This signalling 
consists of swinging two arms in different positions, either singly or to¬ 
gether. The dots indicate where the letter join. For example: — The 
semaphore sign for N consists of both arms pointing downwards at an angle 
of 90 degrees. The letter I is shown by both arms pointing to the left at 
the same angle. The next N is shown again, and the letter E is a single 
arm pointing downwards on the left at an angle of 45 degrees. 

In each word you start at the top of the signs and read downwards. 

This form of secret message was frequently used in the South African 
War. 


dustani written in English characters, and so on. They were 
rolled up into pellets and pressed into a small hole bored in a 
walking stick, the hole being then plugged with clay or soap. Or 
they were put into the bowl of a pipe underneath the tobacco, 
and could thus be burnt without suspicion if necessary, or they 
were slipped in between the soles of the boots, or stitched in the 
lining of the bearer’s clothing. These natives also understood 
the language of smoke-fires — signalling by means of little or big 
puffs of smoke as to the enemy’s moves and strength. 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


13 


The native despatch-runners whom we sent out to make their 
way through the enemy’s lines carried the letters tightly rolled 
up in little balls, coated with sheet lead, such as tea is packed 
in. These balls they carried slung around their necks on a string. 
The moment that they saw an enemy coming near they dropped 
the balls, which then looked like so many stones, on the ground, 
and took bearings of the spot so that he could find it again 
when the coast was clear. 

Then there were fixed points for hiding letters for other spies 
to find. A sign was scratched on the ground or on a tree trunk 
or gate post, thus: 


(EH* 

Fig. 2. This little mark, sketched on the ground or on a tree trunk, is 
used by one scout for the information of another. It means “ A letter is 
hidden four paces in this direction.” 

meaning “ A letter is hidden four paces in this direction.” 
Among other signs used are these: 

Not this way. 

Fig. 3. A sign used to warn another scout that he is following a wrong 

direction. 


Have returned home. 


Fig. 4. This is another sign from one scout to another and means ** I 

have returned home.” 



Keep in this direction. 



Fig. 5. The two stones, one on the other, and the “ blaze ” on the 
tree trunk are simply to show that the scout is on the right trail. 

The other three sketches are to show the direction in which the scout 
should go. The arrow is marked on the ground. The upper part of the 
sapling or bush is bent over in the direction which the scout snould take, 
and the same is the case with the bunch of grass, which is first of all 
knotted and then bent. 


The Japanese, of course, in their war with Russia in Man¬ 
churia made extensive use of spies, and Port Arthur, with all 
its defects of fortification and equipment, was known thoroughly 


14 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


inside and out to the Japanese general staff before they ever 
fired a shot at it. 

In the field service regulations of the German army a paragraph 
directed that the service of protection in the field — that is to 
say, outposts, advanced guards, and reconnaissances — should 
always be assisted by a system of spying, and although this 
paragraph no longer stands in the book, the spirit of it is none 
the less carried out. 

The field spies are a recognised and efficient arm. 

Frederick the Great is recorded to have said: “When Mar¬ 
shal Subise goes to war, he is followed by a hundred cooks, but 
when I take the field I am preceded by a hundred spies.” 

The present leader of the German army might well say the 
same, though probably his “ hundred ” would amount to thou¬ 
sands. 

We hear of them dressed in plain clothes as peasants, and sig¬ 
nalling with coloured lights, with puffs of smoke from chimneys, 
and by using' the church clock hands as semaphores. 

Only recently a priest was arrested and found to be a spy dis¬ 
guised, and as such he was shot. Also a German chauffeur in a 
French uniform, who had for some time been driving French 
staff officers about, was found to be a spy, and so met his death. 

Early in the present war the German field spies had their secret 
code of signs, so that by drawing sketches of cattle of different 
colours and sizes on gates, etc., they conveyed information to 
each other of the strength and direction of different bodies of 
hostile troops in the neighbourhood. 

As a rule these are residential spies, who have lived for months 
or years as small tradesmen, etc., in the towns and villages now 
included in the theatre of war. On the arrival of the German in¬ 
vaders they have chalked on their doors, “ Not to be destroyed. 
Good people here,” and have done it for some of their neigh¬ 
bours also in order to divert suspicion. In their capacity of 
naturalised inhabitants they are in position, of course, to gain 
valuable tactical information for the commanders of the troops. 
And their different ways of communicating it are more than 
ingenious. 

In some cases both spies and commanders have maps ruled off 
in small squares. The watchful spy signals to his commander, 
“ Enemy’s cavalry halted behind wood in square E15,” and very 
soon a salvo of shells visits this spot. A woman spy was caught 
signalling with an electric flash lamp. Two different men (one 
of them an old one-legged stonebreaker at the roadside) were 
caught with field telephones hidden on them with wire coiled 
round their bodies. Shepherds with lanterns went about on the 
downs at night dodging the lanterns about in various ways 
which did not seem altogether necessary for finding sheep. 
Wireless telegraphs were set up to look like supports to iron 
chimneys. 

In the South African Campaign a Dutch stationmaster acted as 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


15 


field spy for the Boers for a short time. It was only a very 
short time. His town and station were captured by my force, 
and, in order to divert suspicion, he cut and pulled down the 
telegraph wires, all except one, which was left in working order. 
By this wire he sent to the Boer headquarters all the informa¬ 
tion he could get about our forces and plans. Unfortunately, 
I had a party of men tapping the wire, and we were able to read 
all his messages, and to confront him with them shortly after¬ 
wards. 

Another stationmaster, in our own territory, acted as spy to the 
enemy before the war began by employing enemies as gangers 
and platelayers along the line with a view to the destruction of 
bridges and culverts as soon as war was declared. There was 
also found in his office a code by which the different arms of the 
service were designated in terms of timber for secretly tele¬ 
graphing information. Thus: 


Beams meant Brigades 

Timbers ” Batteries 

Logs ” Guns 

Scantlings ” Battalions 

Joists ” Squadrons 

Planks ” Companies 


THE PLUCK OF A SPY. 

Except in the case of the traitor spy, one does not quite under¬ 
stand why a spy should necesesarily be treated worse than any 
other combatant, nor why his occupation should be looked upon 
as contemptible, for, whether in peace or war, his work is of a 
very exacting and dangerous kind. It is intensely exciting, and 
though in some cases it brings a big reward, the best spies are 
unpaid men, who are doing it for the love of the thing, and as 
a really effective step to gaining something valuable for their 
country and for their side. 

The plea put forward by the German spy, Lieut. Carl Lody, 
at his court martial in London, was that “ he would not cringe 
for mercy. He was not ashamed of anything that he had done; 
he was in honour bound not to give away the names of those 
who had employed him on this mission; he was not paid for it, 
he did it for his country’s good, and he knew that he carried his 
life in his hands in doing so. Many a Briton was probably 
doing the same for Britain.” 

He was even spoken of in our House of Commons as being “ a 
patriot who had died for his country as much as any soldier who 
fell in the field.” 

To be a really effective spy, a man has to be endowed with a 
strong spirit of self-sacrifice, courage, and self-control, with the 
power of acting a part, quick at observation and deduction, and 
blessed with good health and nerve of exceptional quality. A 


16 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


certain amount of scientific training is of value where a man 
has to be able to take the angles of a fort, or to establish the 
geological formation, say, of the middle island under the Forth 
Bridge, which was shown by Graves to be readily adaptable for 
explosion purposes. 

For anyone who is tired of life, the thrilling life of a spy 
should be the very finest recuperator! 

TRAITOROUS SPYING. 

Quite another class of spy is the traitor who gives away the 
secrets of his own country. For him, of course, there is no 
excuse. Fortunately, the Briton is not as a rule of a corruptible 
character, and many foreign spies in England have been dis¬ 
covered through their attempts to bribe officers or men to give 
away secrets. 

On the other hand, we hear frequently of foreign soldiers 
falling victims to such temptation, and eventually being dis¬ 
covered. Cases have only recently come to light in Austria where 
officers were willing to sell information as regards a number of 
secret block-houses which were built on the frontier of Bukovina 
last year. Details of them got into the hands of another Power 
within a few days of the designs being made. 

When suspicion of this sort falls upon an officer in Austria 
the case is not tried in public, but is conducted privately, and 
generally by the Emperor himself. When he is found guilty, 
the procedure is for four friends of the accused to visit him 
and tell him what has been discovered against him, and to present 
him with a loaded revolver and leave him. They then remain 
watching the house, in order that he shall not escape, until he 
had elected to shoot himself, and if he fails to do so in reasonable 
time, they go in and finish him off between them. 

THE GERMAN SPY ORGANISATION. 

The espionage system of the Germans far exceeds that of 
any other country in its extent, cost, and organisation. It was 
thoroughly exposed after the war with France in 1870, when 
it was definitely shown that the German Government had an 
organisation of over 20,000 paid informers stationed in France, 
and controlled by one man, Stieber, for both political and military 
purposes. 

To such completeness were their machinations carried that 
when Jules Favre camie to Versailles to treat about the sur¬ 
render of Paris with the headquarter staff of the German army 
he was met at the station by a carriage, of which the coachman 
was a German spy, and was taken to lodge in the house which 
was the actual headquarters of the spy department. Stieber 
himself was the valet, recommended to him as “ a thoroughly 
trustworthy servant.” Stieber availed himself of his position to 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


17 


go through his master’s pockets and despatch cases daily, col¬ 
lecting most valuable data and information for Bismarck. 

Somehow, on the surface, suspicion of the German spy methods 
seemed to have subsided since that date, although at the time 
widely known throughout Europe. But their methods have been 
steadily elaborated and carried into practice ever since, not in 
France alone, but in all the countries on the Continent, and also 
in Great Britain. 


THE VALUE OF BEING STUPID. 

Fortunately for us. we are as a nation considered by the 
others to be abnormally stupid, therefore easily to be spied upon. 
But it is not always safe to judge entirely by appearances. 

Our Ambassador at Constantinople some years ago had the 
appearance of a cheery, bluff, British farmer, with nothing below 
the surface in his character, and he was therefore looked upon 
as fair game by all his intriguing rivals in Eastern politics. It 
was only after repeated failures of their different missions they 
found that in every case they were out-intrigued by this inno¬ 
cent-looking gefitleman, who below the surface was as cunning 
as a fox and as clever a diplomat as could be found in all the 
service. 

And so it has been with us British. Foreign spies stationed 
in our country saw no difficulty in completely hoodwinking so 
stupid a people: they never supposed that the majority of them 
have all been known to our Secret Service Department, and 
carefully watched, unknown to themselves. 

Few of them ever landed in this country without undergoing 
the scrutiny of an unobtrusive little old gentleman with tall hat 
and umbrella, but the wag of whose finger sent a detective on the 
heels of the visitor until his actual business and location were 
assured and found to be satisfactory. 

For years the correspondence of these gentry has been regu¬ 
larly opened, noted, and sent on. They were not as a rule worth 
arresting, the information sent was not of any urgent import¬ 
ance, and so long as they went on thinking that they were un¬ 
noticed, their superiors in their own country made no effort to 
send more astute men in their place. Thus we knew what the 
enemy were looking for, and we knew what information they 
had received, and this as a rule was not of much account. 

On August 4th, the day before the declaration of war, the 
twenty leading spies were formally arrested and over 200 of their 
minor agents were also taken in hand, and thus their organisa¬ 
tion failed them at the moment when it was wanted most. Steps 
were also taken to prevent any substitutes being appointed in 
their places. Private wireless stations were dismantled, and by 
means of traps those were discovered which had not been vol¬ 
untarily reported and registered. 

It used to amuse some of us to watch the foreign spies at 


i8 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


work on our ground. One especially interested me, who set 
himself up ostensibly as a coal merchant, but never dealt in a 
single ounce of coal. His daily reconnaissance of the country, his 
noting of the roads, and his other movements entailed in pre¬ 
paring his reports, were all watched and recorded. His letters 
were opened in the post, sealed up, and sent on. His friends 
were observed and shadowed on arriving — as they did — at 
Hull instead of in London. And all the time he was plodding 
along, wasting his time, quite innocent of the fact that he was 
being watched, and was incidentally giving us a fine amount 
of information. 

Another came only for a few hours, and was away again 
before we could collar him; but, knowing his moves, and what 
photographs he had taken, I was able to write to him, and tell 
him that had I known beforehand that he wished to photograph 
these places, I could have supplied him with some ready made, 
as the forts which they recorded were now obsolete. 

On the other hand, the exceedingly stupid Englishmen who 
wandered about foreign countries sketching cathedrals, or catch¬ 
ing butterfles, or fishing for trout, were merely laughed at as 
harmless lunatics. These have even invited officials to look at 
their sketch-books, which, had they had any suspicion or any 
eyes in their heads, would have revealed plans and armaments 
of their own fortresses interpolated among the veins of the 
botanist’s drawings of leaves or on the butterflies’ wings of the 
entomologist. 




TotC-,«.4» C,<~v4 Fv«M .. * 

Fig. 6. This sketch (F) of a butterfly contains the outline of a fortress 
and marks both the position and power of the guns. The marks on the 
wings between the lines mean nothing, but those athwart the lines show 
the nature and size of the guns according to- the keys G and H. 

The position of each gun is at the place inside the outline of the fort 
where the line marked with the spot ends. The head of the butterfly 
points towards the North. 











THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


19 



D&’ 7 - A smart piece of spy-work. Veins on an ivy leaf show the 
outline of the fort as seen looking West (Point of the leaf indicates North) 
snows dead ground,” where there is shelter from fire. Shows where 
big guns are mounted if a vein points to them. Shows machine guns. 




o O © & : + 

' Z 3 * J- £ 

Fig. 8. Plere is another of the methods by which B. P. concealed the 
plans of the forts he made. 

First of all, he would sketch the plan as shown in the picture marked 
R., giving the strength and positions of the various guns as shown below. 

A. Kaponiers with machine guns. D. Q. R. disappearing guns. 

B. 15 cm. guns cupolas. E. Howitzer cupolas. 

C. 12 cm. guns cupolas. F. Searchlight. 

Having done this, he would consider the best method of concealing his 
plan. In this case he decided to transform his sketch into that of a 
stained glass window, and if you will carefully examine the picture 
marked 5 you will see how ingeniously this has been done. Certain of 
the decorations signify the sizes and positions of the guns. These signs 
are given below, together with their meaning. 


I. 

15 cm. guns. 

4 - 

12 cm. guns. 

2. 

Howitzers. 

5 - 

Machine guns. 

3 - 

Q. F. disappearing guns. 

6. 

Searchlight. 


BUTTERFLY HUNTING IN DALMATIA. 

Once I went “ butterfly hunting ” in Dalmatia. Cattaro, the 
capital, has been the scene of much bombarding during the 
present war. 









20 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 




Fig. 9. Another example of this method of making secret plans is shown 
here. 

The sketch marked T, was made, giving all the particulars that B. P. 
wanted. He then decided to bury it in such a way that it could not be 
recognised as a fortress plan if he were caught by the military authorities. 
One idea which occurred to him was to make it into the doorway of a 
cathedral or church, but he finally decided on the sketch marked U. Under¬ 
neath in his notebook he wrote the following words: — 

“Head of Dula moth as seen through a magnifying glass. Caught 
19.5.12. Magnified about six times size of life.” (Meaning scale of 6" to 
the mile.) 

More than a hundred years ago it was bombarded by the 
British fleet and taken. It was then supposed to be impregnable. 
It lies at the head of a loch some fifteen miles long, and in some 
parts but a few hundred yards wide, in a trough between moun¬ 
tains. From Cattaro, at the head of the loch, a zig-zag road 
leads up the mountain side over the frontier into Montenegro. 

When the British ships endeavoured to attack from the sea¬ 
ward, the channel was closed by chains and booms put across it. 
But the defenders had reckoned without the resourcefulness of 
the British “ handyman,” and a few days later, to the utter as¬ 
tonishment of the garrison, guns began to bombard them from 
the top of a neighbouring mountain! 

The British captain had landed his guns on the Adriatic shore, 
and by means of timber slides rigged up on the mountain side he 
had hauled his guns bodily up the rocky steeps to the very 
summit of the mountain. 

He fixed up his batteries, and was eventually able to bom¬ 
bard the town with such effect that it had to surrender. 

It was perhaps characteristic of us that we only took the 
town because it was held by our enemies. We did not want it, 
and when we had got it we did not know what to do with it. 
We therefore handed it over to the Montenegrins, and thus 
gave them a seaport of their own. For this feat the Monte¬ 
negrins have always had a feeling of admiration and of gratitude 
to the British, and, though by terms of ulterior treaties it was 
eventually handed over to Dalmatia, the Montenegrins have 
never forogtten our goodwill towards them on this occasion. 

But other batteries have since been built upon these mountain 



THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


21 


tops, and it was my business to investigate their positions, 
strength, and armaments. 

I. went armed with most effective weapons for the purpose, 
which have served me well in many a similar campaign. I took 
a sketch-book, in which were numerous pictures — some finished, 
others only partly done — of butterflies of every degree and rank, 
from a “ Red Admiral” to a “Painted Lady.” 

Carrying this book and a colour box, and a butterfly net in 
my hand, I was above all suspicion to anyone who met me on the 
lonely mountain side, even in the neighbourhood of the forts. 

I was hunting butterflies, and it was always a good introduction 
with which to go to anyone who was watching me with suspi¬ 
cion. Quite frankly, with my sketch-book in hand, I would 
ask innocently whether he had seen such-and-such a butterfly in 
the neighbourhood, as I was anxious to catch one. Ninety-nine 
out of a hundred did not know one butterfly from another — 
any more than I do — so one was on fairly safe ground in that 
way, and they thoroughly sympathised with the mad Englishman 
who was hunting these curious insects. 

They did not look sufficiently closely into the sketches of but¬ 
terflies to notice that the delicately drawn veins of the wings 
were exact representations, in plan, of their own fort, and that 
the spots on the wings denoted the number and position of guns 
and their different calibres. 

On another occasion I found it a simple disguise to go as a 
fisherman into the country which I wanted to examine. 

My business was to find some passes in the mountains, and 
report whether they were feasible for the passage of troops. 
I therefore wandered up the various streams which led over the 
hills, and by quietly fishing about I was able to make surveys 
of the whole neighbourhood. 

But on one occasion a countryman constituted himself my 
guide, and insisted on sticking to me all the morning, showing 
me places where fish could be caught. I was not, as a matter 
of fact, much of a fisherman at that time, nor had I any desire 
to catch fish, and my tackle was of a very ramshackle descrip¬ 
tion for the purpose. 

I flogged the water assiduously with an impossible fly, just to 
keep the man’s attention from my real work, in the hope that 
he would eventually get tired of it and go away. But not he! 
He watched me with the greatest interest for a long time, and 
eventually explained that he did not know anything about fly 
fishing, but had a much better system of getting the fish together 
before casting a worm or slug among them. 

His system he then proceeded to demonstrate, which was to 
spit into the water. This certainly attracted a run of fish, and 
then he said that if only he had a worm he could catch any 
number. 

I eventually got rid of him by sending him to procure such, 
and while he was away I made myself scarce and clambered 
ever the ridge to another valley. 


22 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


HOW SPIES DISGUISE THEMSELVES. 

One minor proof that Germany’s system was not working ef¬ 
fectively at the outbreak of war was shown through their igno¬ 
rance of the transfer of the British Expeditionary Force to 
France till many days after it had been already accomplished. 

On the other hand, their tactical spying in the field seems, by 
all accounts, to have been pluckily and efficiently done. 

Spying brings with it a constant wearing strain of nerves and 
mind, seeing that it involves certain death for a false step in war 
or imprisonment in peace. The Government promises to give no 
help whatever to its servant if caught. He is warned to keep 
no notes, to confide in no one, to use disguises where necessary, 
and to shift for himself entirely. 

The matter of disguise is not so much one of a theatrical make¬ 
up— although this is undoubtedly a useful art — as of being able 
to assume a totally different character, change of voice and man¬ 
nerisms, especially of gait in walking and appearance from be¬ 
hind. 



Fig. xo. The matter of disguise is not so much one of theatrical make-up 
as is being able to secure a totally different character in voice and man¬ 
nerisms, and especially of gait in walking and appearance from behind. 
A man may effect a wonderful disguise in front, yet be instantly recog¬ 
nised by a keen eye from behind. This is a point which is frequently for¬ 
gotten by beginners, and yet is one of the most important. The first and 
third figures show an effective make-up in front, but the second figure, a 
back-view, shows how easily the man may be recognised by a person behind 
him. The fourth and fifth sketches show, by means of dotted lines, how the 
“ back-view ” can be altered by change of clothing and gait. 


This point is so often forgotten by beginners, and yet it is one 
of the most important. 

I was at one time watched by a detective who one day was a 
soldierly-looking fellow and the next an invalid with a patch 
over his eye. I could not believe it was the same man until I 
watched him from behind and saw him walking, when at once his 
individuality was apparent. 

For mannerisms, a spy has by practice to be able to show an 
impediment in his speech one day, whereas the next a wiggle of 
an eyelid or a snuffling at the nose will make him appear a totally 
different being. 

For a quick change, it is wonderful what difference is made by 
merely altering your hat and necktie. It is usual for a person 



THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


*3 


addressing another to take note of his necktie, and probably of 
his hat, if of nothing else, and thus it is often useful to carry a 
necktie and a cap of totally different hue from that which you 
are wearing, ready to change immediately in order to escape rec¬ 
ognition a few minutes later. 



Fig. ii. The above illustration shows how the writer was able to dis¬ 
guise himself at very short notice when he observed that he was recognised 
on a railway station. The first sketch shows him as he entered a waiting 
room shortly after his suspicions were aroused. The second depicts him on 
his exit a few minutes later. The disguise, simple though it may seem, was 
entirely successful. 


I learnt this incidentally through being interviewed some years 
ago at a railway station. A few minutes after the ordeal I found 
myself close up to my interviewer, when he was retelling the in¬ 
cident to a brother journalist, who was also eager to find me. 



Fig. 12. Another instance of how an effective disguise can be assumed 
on the spur of the moment. A man was hunted down into a back street 
which was a cul-de-sac with no exit from it. He turned into a warehouse, 
went up some flights of stairs, but, finding no refuge, hastily disguised him¬ 
self as shown and returned to the street in the very face of his pursuers. 
No “ make-up ” was used, the effect being obtained simply by buttoning up 
the collar, denting the hat and assuming the gait of a bona fide invalid. 


“He is down there, in one of the last carriages of the train. 
You will know him at once; he is wearing a green Homburg hat 
and a red tie, and a black coat.” 

Fortunately I had a grey overcoat on my arm, in which was a 
travelling cap and a comforter. Diving into the waiting-room, I 




24 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


effected a “quick change” into these, crammed my hat into my 
pocket, and tottered back, with an invalid shuffle, to my carriage. 
I re-entered it under the nose of the waiting reporter without 
being suspected, and presently had the pleasure of being carried 
away before him unassailed. 

On a recent occasion in my knowledge a man was hunted down 
into a back street which was a cul-de-sac, with no exit from it. 
He turned into the door of a warehouse and went uo some 
flights of stairs, hoping to find a refuge, but, finding none, he 
turned back and came down again and faced the crowd which 
were waiting outside, uncertain which house he had entered. 

By assuming extreme lameness in one leg, hunching up one 
shoulder, and jamming his hat down over a distorted-looking 
face, he was able to limp boldly down among them without one 
of them suspecting his individuality. 

In regard to disguises, hair on the face — such as moustache 
or beard — are very usually resorted to for altering a man’s ap¬ 
pearance, but these are perfectly useless in the eye of a trained 
detective unless the eyebrows also are changed in some way. 



Fig. 13. The use of hair in disguising the face is perfectly useless 
unless the eyebrows are considerably changed. The brow and the back of 
the head are also extremely important factors in the art of disguise. 

The second picture shows the effect of “ improving ” the eyebrows of the 
face on the left, and also of raising the hair on the brow, while the third 
sketch shows what a difference the addition of a beard and extra hair 
on the back of the head can make. 


I remember meeting a man on the veldt in South Africa 
bronzed and bearded, who came to me and said that he had been 
at school with one of my name. As he thrust his hat back on 
his head I at once recognised the brow which I had last seen at 
Charterhouse some twenty-five years before, and the name and 
nickname at once sprang to my lips. “ Why, you are Liar Jones,” 
I exclaimed. He said, “ My name is Jones, but I was not aware 
of the ‘ Liar.’ ” 

“ In altering your face you must remember that ‘ improved ’ 
eyebrows alter the expression of the face more than any beards, 
shaving, etc. Tattoo marks can be painted on the hands or arms, 
to be washed off when you change your disguise. . . . Disguising 
by beginners is almost invariably overdone in front and not 
enough behind. . . . Before attempting to be a spy first set your¬ 
self to catch a spy, and thus learn what faults to avoid as likely 
to give you away.” [Aids to Scouting, p. 136.] 

It fell to my lot at one time to live as a plumber in South-east 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


25 


London, and I grew a small “ goatee ” beard, which was rather in 
vogue amongst men of that class at that time. 

One day, in walking past the Naval and Military Club in Pic¬ 
cadilly in my workman’s get-up, I passed an old friend, a major 
in the Horse Artillery, and almost without thinking I accosted 
him by his regimental nickname. He stared and wondered, and 
then supposed that I had been a man in his battery, and could 
not believe his eyes when I revealed my identity. 

I was never suspected by those among whom I went, and even 
became intimate. I had nominally injured my arm in an acci¬ 
dent and carried it in a sling, and was thus unable to work, or, 
what was also a blessing, to join in fights in which my friends 
from time to time got involved. My special companion was one 
Jim Bates, a carpenter. I lost sight of him for some years, and 
when next I met him he was one of the crowd at a review at 
Aldershot, where I was in full rig as an Hussar officer. It was 
difficult to persuade him that I was his former friend the 
plumber. 

Later on, when employed on a reconnaissance mission in South 
Africa, I had grown a red beard to an extent that would have 
disguised me from my own mother. Coming out of the post 
office of a small country town, to my surprise I came up against 
the Colonel of my regiment, who was there for an outing. I at 
once — forgetting my disguise — accosted him with a cheery 
“ Hullo, Colonel, I didn’t know you were here,” and he turned on 
me and stared for a minute or two, and then responded huffily 
that he did not know who I was. As he did not appear to want 
to, I went my ways, and only reminded him months later of our 
brief meeting! 


THE SPORT OF SPYING. 

Undoubtedly spying would be an intensely interesting sport 
even if no great results were obtainable from it. There is a fas¬ 
cination which gets hold of anyone who has tried the art. Each 
day brings fresh situations and conditions requiring quick change 
of action and originality to meet them. 

Here are a few instances from actual experiences. None of 
these are anything o*t of the common, but are merely the every¬ 
day doings of the average agent, but they may best explain the 
sporting value of the work. 

One of the attractive features of the life of a spy is that he 
has, on occasion, to be a veritable Sherlock Holmes. He has to 
notice the smallest of details, points which would probably escape 
the untrained eye, and then he has to put this and that together 
and deduce a meaning from them. 

I remember once when carrying out a secret reconnaissance in 
South Africa I came across a farmhouse from which the owner 
was absent at the moment of my arrival. I had come far and 
would have still further to go before I came across any habita¬ 
tion, and I was hard up for a lodging for the night. 

After off-saddling and knee-haltering my horse, I looked into 


26 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


the various rooms to see what sort of a man was the inhabitant. 
It needed only a glance into his bedroom in this ramshackle hut 
to see that he was one of the right sort, for there, in a glass on 
the window-sill, were two toothbrushes. 

I argued that he was an Englishman and of cleanly habits, and 
would do for me as a host — and I was not mistaken in the re- 
sult! 

I was once in a country where the mountain troops on their 
frontier were said to be of a wonderfully efficient kind, but no¬ 
body knew much about their organisation or equipment or their 
methods of working, so I was sent to see if I could find out any¬ 
thing about them. I got in amongst the mountains at the time 
when their annual manoeuvres were going on, and I found num¬ 
bers of troops quartered in the valleys and billeted in all the 
villages. But these all appeared to be the ordinary type of 
troops, infantry, artillery of the line, etc. The artillery were 
provided with sledges by which the men could pull the guns up 
the mountain sides with ropes, and the infantry were supplied 
with alpenstocks to help them in getting over the bad ground. 
For some days I watched the manoeuvres, but saw nothing very 
striking to report. 

Then one evening in passing through a village where they were 
billeted I saw a new kind of soldier coming along with three 
pack mules. He evidently belonged to those mountain forces of 
which, so far, I had seen nothing. I got into conversation with 
him, and found that he had come down from the higher ranges 
in order to get supplies for his company which was high up 
among the snow peaks, and entirely out of reach of the troops 
manoeuvring on the lower slopes. 

He incidentally told me that the force to which he belonged 
was a very large one, composed of artillery and infantry, and that 
they were searching amongst the glaciers and the snows for an¬ 
other force which was coming as an enemy against them, and 
they hoped to come into contact with them probably the very 
next day. He then roughly indicated to me the position in 
which his own force was bivouacking that night, on the side of 
a high peak called the “ Wolf’s Tooth.” 

By condoling with him on the difficult job he would have to 
get through, and suggesting impossible roads by which he could 
climb, he eventually let out to me exactly the line which the 
path took, and how it would be possible to arrive there during the 
night without being seen. 

So after dark, when the innkeeper thought I was safely in bed, 
I quietly made my way up the mountain side to where the 
“ Wolf’s Tooth ”* stood up against the starry sky as a splendid 
landmark to guide me. There was no difficulty in passing 
through the village with its groups of soldiers strolling about 
off duty, but on the roads leading out of it many sentries were 
posted, and I feared that they would scarcely let me pass with¬ 
out inquiring as to who I was and where I was going. 

So I spent a considerable time in trying to evade these, and 
was at last fortunate in discovering a storm drain leading be- 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


27 


tween high walls up a steep bank into an orchard, through which 
I was able to slip away unseen by the sentries guarding the front 
of the village. I climbed up by such paths and goat tracks as I 
could find leading in the direction desired. I failed to strike 
the mule path indicated by my friend the driver, but I felt that 
so long as I could keep progressing always in the direction of the 
Wolfs Tooth, I could not go far wrong — and so it proved in 
the event. 

It was a long and arduous climb, but just as dawn began to light 
up the eastern sky I found myself safely on the top, and the twin¬ 
kling of the numerous camp fires showed me where the force was 
bivouacked which I had come to see. 

As the daylight came on the troops began to get on the move, 
and, after early coffee, were beginning to spread themselves 
about the mountain side, taking up positions ready for attack or 
defence, so as it grew lighter I hastened to find for myself a com¬ 
fortable little knoll, from which I hoped to be able to see all that 
went on without myself being seen; and for a time all went par¬ 
ticularly well. 

Troops deployed themselves in every direction. Look-out men 
with telescopes were posted to spy on the neighbouring hills, and 
I could see where the headquarters staff were gathered together 
to discuss the situation. Gradually they came nearer to the posi¬ 
tion I myself was occupying, then divided themselves into two 
parties; the one with the general remained standing where they 
were, while the other came in the direction of the mound on 
which I was lying. 

Then to my horror some of them began to ascend my strong¬ 
hold. 

I at once stood up and made no further efforts at concealment, 
but got out my sketch book and started to make a drawing of 
“ Dawni Among the Mountains.’’ I was very soon noticed, and 
one or two officers walked over to me and entered into con¬ 
versation, evidently anxious to find out who I was and what was 
my business there. 

My motto is that a smile and a stick will carry you through 
any difficulty; the stick was obviously not politic on this occasion; 
I therefore put on a double extra smile and showed them my 
sketch book, explaining that the one ambition of my life was to 
make a drawing of the Wolf’s Tooth by sunrise. 

They expressed a respectful interest, and then explained that 
their object in being there was to make an attack from the 
Wolf’s Tooth on the neighbouring mountain, provided that the 
enemy were actually in possession of it. I on my part showed 
a mild but tactful interest in their proceedings. 

The less interest I showed, the more keen they seemed to be to 
explain matters to me, until eventually I had the whole of their 
scheme exposed before me, illustrated by their own sketch maps 
of the district, which were far more detailed and complete than 
anything of the kind I had seen before. 

In a short time were on the best of terms; they had coffee 
going which they shared with me, while I distributed my ciga- 


28 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


rettes and chocolates amongst them. They expressed surprise at 
my having climbed up there at that early hour, but were quite sat¬ 
isfied when I explained that I came from Wales, and at once 
jumped to the conclusion that I was a Highlander, and asked 
whether I wore a kilt when I was at home. 

In the middle of our exchange of civilities the alarm was given 
that the enemy was in sight, and presently we saw through our 
glasses long strings of men coming from all directions towards 
us over the snows. Between us and the enemy lay a vast and 
deep ravine with 1 almost perpendicular sides, traversed here and 
there by zigzagging goat tracks. 

Officers were called together, the tactics of the fight were de¬ 
scribed to them, and in a few minutes the battalion and company 
commanders were scattered about studying with their glasses the 
opposite mountain, each, as they explained to me at the time, pick¬ 
ing out for himself and for his men a line for ascending to the at¬ 
tack. 

Then the word was given for the advance, and the infantry 
went off in long strings of men armed with alpenstocks and ropes. 
Ropes were -used for lowering each other down bad places, and 
for stringing the men together when they got on to the snows 
to save them from falling into crevasses, etc. But the exciting 
point of the day was when the artillery proceeded to move 
down into the ravine; the guns were all carried in sections on 
the backs of mules, as well as their ammunition and spare parts. 

In a few minutes tripods were erected, the mules were put 
into slings, guns and animals were then lowered one by one into 
the depths below until landed on practicable ground. Here 
they were loaded up again and got into their strings for climb¬ 
ing up the opposite mountains, and in an incredibly short space 
of time both mules and infantry were to be seen, like little lines 
of ants, climbing by all the available tracks which could be 
found leading towards the ice fields above. 

The actual results of the field day no longer interested me; 
I had seen what I had come for — the special troops, their 
guns, their supply and hospital arrangements, their methods of 
moving in this apparently impassable country, and their maps 
and ways of signalling. 

All was novel, all was practical; for example, on looking at 
one of the maps shown to me, I remarked that I should have 
rather expected to find on it every goat track marked, but the 
officer replied that there was no need for that; every one of his 
men was born in this valley, and knew every goat track over the 
mountain. Also a goat track did not remain for more than a 
few weeks, or at most a few months, owing to landslips and 
washouts; they are continually being altered, and to mark them 
on a map would lead to hopeless confusion. 

My mountain climbing came into use on another occasion of 
a somewhat similar kind. A map had been sent me by my su¬ 
periors of a mountainous district in which it had been stated 
that three forts had recently been built. It was only known 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


29 


generally what was the situation of these forts, and no details 
had so far been secured as to their size, shape, or armament. 

On arriving at the only town in the neighborhood, my first few 
days were spent strolling about looking generally at the moun¬ 
tains amongst which the forts were supposed to be. I had mean¬ 
time made the acquaintance through my innkeeper of one or two 
local sportsmen of the place, and I inquired among them as to 
the possibilities of partridge or other shooting among the moun¬ 
tains when the season came on. 

I told them that I enjoyed camping out for a few days at a 
time in such country for sketching and shooting purposes. I 
asked as to the possibilities of hiring tents and mules to carry 
them, and a good muleteer, was recommended to me, who knew 
the whole of the countryside, and could tell me all the likely 
spots that there were for camping grounds. 

Eventually I engaged him to take me for a day or two in ex¬ 
ploring the neighbourhood, with a view to fixing on camping 
grounds and seeing the view. We went for a considerable dis¬ 
tance along a splendid high road which led up into the moun¬ 
tains. As we got into the high parts he suggested that we 
should leave the road and clamber down into the ravine, along 
which we could go for some distance and then reascend and re¬ 
join the road higher up. 

He then explained that this was a military road, and that it 
would be desirable to leave it for a space in order to avoid the 
guard-house upon it, where ia sentry was posted with orders to 
allow no one beyond that point. 

We successfully evaded the guard-house according to his di¬ 
rection, and eventually found ourselves on the road again, in a 
position well up towards the top of the ridge; but on our left 
as we progressed up the road was a steep minor ridge which we 
presently proceeded to ascend. 

When we were near the top he said to me with a knowing 
grin: — 

“ Now if you look over there, you will see before you exactly 
what you want.” 

And as I looked over I found below me one of the new forts. 
It was exactly what I wanted to see snread before my eyes like 
a map. I simply had to take a bird’s-eye view of it to get its 
complete plan. 

Beyond it on another ridge lay another fort, and almost behind 
me I could see part of the third, while beyond and above were 
still more forts up on the heights. I had got into a regular nest 
of them. My position on the ridge gave me a splendid view of 
mountains, and referring to them, I said: — 

“ Yes, indeed, you have brought me to exactly the right spot.” 

But he grinned again maliciously, pointing down to the fort, 
and said: — 

“ Yes, but that is the best view of all, I think. 

He seemed to grasp my intentions most fully. Far below the 
forts lay the straits which they were designed to protect for the 
vessels steaming through them. I started at once to make a 


30 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


sketch of the panorama, carefully omitting that ground where the 
forts lay, partly in order to disarm my friend’s suspicions, and 
partly to protect me in the event of my arrest. 

Presently my companion volunteered to go down to the fort 
and bring up his brother, who, he said, was a gunner stationed 
there, and could give me every detail that I could wish about 
their guns, etc. 

This sounded almost too good to be true, but with the greatest 
indifference I said I should be glad to see him, and off went my 
friend. The moment that he was out of sight I took care to 
move off into a neighboring kopje where I could hide myself in 
case of his bringing up a force of men to capture me. 

From here I was able to make a pretty accurate sketch of the 
fort and its gun emplacements on the inside of the lining of my 
hat, and when I had replaced this I went on as hurriedly as pos¬ 
sible with my sketch to show that I had been fully occupied dur¬ 
ing the guide’s absence. 

Presently I saw him returning, but as he was only accom¬ 
panied by one other man, I crept down again to my original 
position and received them smiling. 

The gunner was most communicative, and told me all about 
his guns and their sizes and what were their powers as regards 
range and accuracy. He told me that once a year an old vessel 
that was about to be broken up was towed along behind a 
steamer down the straits to afford a target to the defence forts 
as she passed on. He said regretfully: — 

“ We are number three fort, and so far, no vessel has ever 
successfully passed one and two — they always get sunk before 
they reach us”—and he gave me the exact range and t..e num¬ 
ber of rounds fired, which showed that their shooting was pretty 
good. 

Many other details I found out as to the number of the men, 
their feeding and hospital arrangements; and a few days later I 
was able to take myself home with a good stock of valuable in¬ 
formation and the good wishes and hopes of my various friends 
that I some day would return to shoot the partridges. But I am 
certain that one man was not taken in by my professions, either 
as an artist or as a sportsman, and that was the muleteer. 

On another occasion I wanted to ascertain what value there 
was in the musketry training of the German infantry. Also it 
had been reported that they had recently acquired a new form of 
machine gun which was a particularly rapid firer and very ac¬ 
curate in its effects. Its calibre was known, and its general pat¬ 
tern (from photographs), but its actual capabilities were still a 
matter of conjecture. 

On this occasion I thought the simplest way would be to go 
undisguised. Without any concealment I went to stay in garri¬ 
son towns where I happened to know one or two officers, just to 
enjoy myself and to look around — generally from the tourist 
point of view. I obtained introductions to other officers, and 
gradually became their companion at meals and at their even- 
ning entertainments. They mounted me on their horses, I rode 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


3i 


with them on their rounds of duty, and I came to be an attend¬ 
ant at their field days and manoeuvres; but whenever we ap¬ 
proached the rifle ranges I was always politely but firmly re¬ 
quested to go no further, but to- await their return, since the 
practice was absolutely confidential. I could gain no informa¬ 
tion from them as to what went on within the enclosure where 
the rifle range was hidden. 

Two of my English friends one day incautiously stopped at the 
entrance gate to one of the ranges, and were promptly arrested 
and kept in the guard-room for some hours, and finally re¬ 
quested to leave the place, without getting much satisfaction out 
of it. So I saw that caution was necessary. Little by little, 
especially after some very cheerful evenings, I elicited a cer¬ 
tain amount of information from my friends as to what the 
new machine gun did and was likely to do, and how their sol¬ 
diers could of course never hit a running target, since it was 
with the greatest difficulty they hit the standing one at all. But 
more than this it was impossible to get. 



Fig. 14. The above sketch shows the writer in a tight place. He was 
discovered in close proximity to a rifle-range by a sentry. Fortunately, 
however, he had time to take out a small bottle of brandy, sprinkle his 
clothes with its contents, and assume an intoxicated manner. When the 
sentry came up he found what he naturally mistook for a drunken man 
smelling vilely of spirits, and after some conversation conducted him from 
the neighbourhood of the fort and sent him reeling on his way. 

However, I moved! on to another military station, where as a 
stranger I tried another tack. The rifle ranges were surrounded 
by a belt of trees, outside of which was an unclimbable fence 
guarded by two sentries, one on either side. It seemed impos¬ 
sible to get into or even near the range without considerable dif¬ 
ficulty. .... , 

One day I sauntered carelessly down in the direction of the 
range at a point far away from the entrance gate, and here I lay 
down on the grass as if to sleep, but in reality to listen and 
take the rate of the shooting from the sound and also the amount 
of success by the sound of the hits on the iron target. Having 


32 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


gained a certain amount of data in this way, I approached more 
nearly in the hope of getting a sight of what was going on. 

While the sentry’s back was turned I made a rush for the 
fence, and though I could not get over, I found a loose plank 
through which I was able to get a good view of what was hap¬ 
pening. 

While engaged at this, to my horror the sentry suddenly 
turned on his tracks and came back towards me. But I had been 
prepared against such eventualities, and jamming back the olank 
into its place, I produced from my pocket a bottle of brandy 
which I had brought for the purpose. Half of it had been al¬ 
ready sprinkled over my clothes, so that when the man ap¬ 
proached he found me in a state of drunkenness, smelling vilely 
of spirit, and profuse in my offers to him to share the bottle. 

He could make nothing of me, and therefore gently but firmly 
conducted me to the end of his beat and thrust me forth and ad¬ 
vised me to go home, which I did in great content. . . . 

A spy is SUSPICIOUS. 

The practice of spying has one unfortunate tendency; it 
teaches one to trust no one, not even a would-be benefactor. A 
foreign country had recently manufactured a new form of field 
gun which was undergoing extensive secret trials which were 
being conducted in one of her colonies in order to avoid being 
watched. I was sent to find out particulars of this gun. On ar¬ 
rival in the colony I found that a battery of new guns was carry¬ 
ing out experiments at a distant point along the railway. 

The place was by all description merely a roadside station, 
with not even a village near it, so it would be difficult to go and 
stay there without being noticed at once. The time-table, how¬ 
ever, showed that the ordinary day train stopped there for half 
an hour for change of engines, so I resolved to see what I could 
do in the space of time allowed. 

We jogged along the local train happily enough and stopped 
at every little station as we went. At one of these a Colonial 
farmer entered my carriage, and though apparently ill and dole¬ 
ful, we got into conversation on the subject of the country and 
the crops. 

At length we drew up at the station where the guns were said 
to be. Eagerly looking from the window, my delight may be 
imagined when I saw immediately outside the station yard the 
whole battery of guns standing parked. 

Everybody left the train to stretch their legs, and I did not 
lose a moment in hurrying through the station and walking out 
to have a closer look at what I had come to see. 

The sentry on the guns was on the further side from me, and 
therefore I was able to have a pretty close look at the breech 
action and various other items before he could come round to my 
side. But he very quickly noticed my presence, and not only 
came himself, but shouted to another man whom I had not so 
far seen behind a corner of the station wall. 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


33 


This was the corporal of the guard, who rushed at me and be¬ 
gan abusing me with every name he could lay his tongue to for 
being here without a permit. I tried to explain that I was merely 
a harmless passenger by the train coming out to stretch my legs, 
and had never noticed his rotten old guns! But he quickly 
shoo’d me back into the station. 

I betook myself once more to the carriage, got out my field 
glasses, and continued my investigations from the inside of the 
carriage, where I had quite a good view of the guns outside the 
station, and was able to note a good deal of information painted 
on them as to their weight, calibre, etc. Suddenly in the midst 
of my observations I found the view was obscured, and looking 
up, I found the face of the corporal peering in at me; he had 
caught me in the act. But nothing more came of it at the mo¬ 
ment. 

A big new Turkish fort had been recently built, and my busi¬ 
ness was to get some idea of its plan and construction. From 
my inn in the town I sauntered out early one morning before 
sunrise, hoping to find no sentries awake, so that I could take 
the necessary angles and pace the desired bases in order to plot 
in a fairly accurate plan of it. 

To some extent I had succeeded when I noticed amone the 
sandhills another fellow looking about, and, it seemed to me, 
trying to dodge me. This was rather ominous, and I spent some 
of my time trying to evade this “ dodger,” imagining that he was 
necessarily one of the guard attempting my capture. 

In evading him unfortunately I exposed myself rather more 
than usual to view from the fort, and presently was challenged by 
one of the sentries. I did not understand his language, but I 
could understand his gesture well enough when he oresented his 
rifle and took deliberate aim at me. This inducecTme to take 
cover as quickly as might be behind a sand-hill, where I sat 
down and waited for a considerable time to allow the excite¬ 
ment to cool down. 

Presently who should I see creeping round the corner of a 
neighbouring sand-hill but my friend the “ dodger ”! It was too 
late to avoid him, and the moment he saw me he appeared to 
wish to go away rather than to arrest mie. W’e then recognised 
that we were mutually afraid of each other, and therefore came 
together with a certain amount of diffidence on both sides. 

However, we got into conversation, in French, and I very soon 
found that, although representatives of different nationalities, we 
were both at the same game of making a plan of the fort. We 
therefore joined forces, and behind a sand-hill we compared 
notes as to what information we had already gained, and then 
devised a little plan by which to complete the whole scheme.. 

My friend took his place in a prominent position with his 
back to the fort and commenced to smoke, with every appearance 
of indifference to the defence work behind him. This was meant 
to catch the sentry’s eye and attract his attention while I did 
some creeping and crawling and got round the other side of the 


34 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


work, where I was able to complete our survey in all its de¬ 
tails. 

It was late that night when we met in the “ Dodger’s ” bed¬ 
room, and we made complete tracings and finished drawings, each 
of us taking his own copy for his own headquarters. A day or 
two later we took steamer together for Malta, where we were to 
part on our respective homeward journeys — he on his way back 
to Italy. 



Fig. 15. A sketch showing how two spies managed to obtain drawings of 
a fort absolutely under the eyes of a sentry. The spy on the right of the 
picture is doing nothing more than attracting the attention of the sentry 
while the spy on the left of the picture is making the necessary drawings. 


As we both had a day or two to wait at Malta, I acted as host 
to him during his stay. As we entered the harbour I pointed 
out to him the big no-ton guns which at that time protected the 
entrance and were visible to anybody with two eyes in his head. 
I pointed out various other interesting batteries to him which 
were equally obvious. 

He came away from Malta, however, with the idea that, on the 
whole, he had done a good stroke of business for his Govern¬ 
ment by going there, and convinced of his luck in getting hold 
of a fairly simple thing in the shape of myself to show him 
around. 


AN ILLUMINATING SCHEME. 

It was my good fortune to meet him a few years later, when 
perhaps unwittingly he returned the compliment which I had 
done him in Malta. He was then in charge of a large arsenal 
in one of the colonies of his country. This was situated in a 
citadel perched on a high ridge with a rapid river flowing around 
the base. 

My orders at. that time were to try and ascertain whether any 
organisation existed in this colons for mobolising the natives as 
a reserve, should the regular troops be called away for action 
elsewhere. Also whether there was any means arranged for 
arming these natives, if so, in what way and in what numbers. 

Knowing that my friend was quartered in the place, I called 
upon him as the first step, without any definite plan in my mind 
as to how I was to set about getting the information. He was 
kind enough to take me for a tour of inspection round the 
town, down to the river, and up in the citadel. 

By a lucky chance I got on to the idea that the citadel ought 
to be lit with electric light since the water power produced by 









THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


35 


the torrent below could work a dynamo at very low cost if prop¬ 
erly engineered. This was so much in my thoughts that as we 
went through the barracks and buildings in the fort, I kept point¬ 
ing out how easily and inexpensively places might be wired and 
lit. And I gradually persuaded him that it was a matter that he 
should take up and suggest to his superior. 

Finally, when we had seen almost everything, my friend re¬ 
marked : “I don’t suppose you would care to see inside the 
arsenal, it is so much like many others you must have seen be¬ 
fore.” But I assured him that it would interest me very much; 
in fact, it was rather essential to forming, any approximate esti¬ 
mate for the lighting; and so he took me in. 

There was gallery after gallery filled with racks of arms, all 
beautifully kept, and over the door of each room was the name 
of the tribe and the number of men who could be mobolised 
in the event of their being required, and the number of arms and 
the amount of ammunition that was available for each. 

After taking me through two or three rooms, he said: “ There 

are many more like this, but you have probably seen enough.” 
But I eagerly exclaimed that I must see the others in order to 
judge of this electric lighting scheme. If there were many 
more rooms it might necessitate an extra-sized dynamo, there¬ 
fore a greater expense, but I hoped that by due economy in 
the numbers of lamps to be able to keep down to the original 
estimate which I had thought of. 

So we went steadily through all the rooms, looking at the 
places where lamps might be most economically established, and 
I made calculations with pencil and paper, which I showed him, 
while I jotted on my shirt cuff the names of the tribes and the 
other information required by my superiors at home — which I 
did not show him. 

The armament of native auxiliaries and their organisation and 
numbers were thus comparatively easily found out — thanks to 
that little stroke of luck which I repeat so often comes in to give 
success whether in scouting or spying. 

But a more difficult job was to ascertain the practical fighting 
value of such people. 


TEA AND A TURK. 

Reports had got about that some wonderful new guns had been 
installed in one of the forts on the Bosphorus and that a great 
deal of secrecy was observed in their being put up. It became 
my duty to go and find out any particulars about them. 

My first day in Constantinople was spent under the guidance of 
an American lady in seeing the sights of the city, and when we 
had visited almost all the usual resorts for tourists she asked 
whether there was anything else that I wanted to see, and to a 
certain extent I let her into my confidence when I told her that 
I would give anything to see the inside of one of these forts if 
it were possible. 

She at once said she would be delighted to take me to see her 


36 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


old friend Hamid Pasha, who was quartered in one of them and 
was always willing to give her and her friends a cup of tea. 

When we arrived at the gate of the fort the sentry and the of¬ 
ficer in charge would on no account allow us to pass until the 
lady said that she was a friend of the Pasha, when we were at 
once admitted and passed to his quarters. 

He was a charming host, and received us with the greatest 
kindness, and after showing us his own quarters and the many 
curiosities he had collected he took us all round the fort and 
pointed out its ancient and modern devices for defence, and 
finally showed us its guns. Two of these, in a somewhat promi¬ 
nent position where they could easily be seen from outside, were 
covered with canvas covers. 

My excitement naturally grew intense when I saw these, and I 
secretly begged the lady to persuade him to allow us to look at 
them, and he at once acquiesced, thinking I was an American, 
and, grinning all over his face, said, “ These are our very latest 
development.” 

I almost 1 trembled as the covers were drawn off, and then I 
recognised guns, truly of a modern make but not very new nor 
powerful, and then he gave away the whole secret by saying: 
“ Of course, we are trying to impress a certain power with the 
idea that we are re-arming our forts, and therefore we are let¬ 
ting it be known that we are keeping these guns a dead secret and 
covered from view of any spies.” 

On another occasion it fell to my lot to inspect some of the 
defences of the Dardanelles, and I found it could best be done 
from the seaward. This involved my taking passage in an old 
grain steamer running between Odessa and Liverpool, and my 
voyage in her was one of the most charming and original that 
it has been my lot to take. 

A tramp steamer loaded down with grain until its cargo is al¬ 
most running out of the ventilators is — contrary to all expecta¬ 
tions — quite a comfortable boat for cruising in. The captain 
and his wife lived in comfortable cabins amidships under the 
bridge; the after deck was stocked with pigs and chickens, which 
fed liberally on the cargo. The captain’s good lady was a Scotch 
woman, and therefore an excellent cook. 

Everything was most clean and comfortable, and the captain 
most thoroughly entered into my various schemes for observing 
and examining the defences of the coast as we went along. 

He allowed me practically to take command of the ship as re¬ 
gards her course and anchoring. From side to side of the Dar¬ 
danelles we wandered, and when we came abreast of one of the 
forts that needed study we anchored ship. 

Our erratic procedure naturally invited investigation, and 
when a Government pilot boat put off to enquire our reason 
for anchoring in a certain bay he came to the conclusion that 
our steering gear was not in very good order and that we had 
stopped to repair it. 

While the ship was at anchor a boat was lowered and I 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


37 


whiled away the time, nominally in fishing, but really in cruising 
about close to the forts and fishing for information rather than 
for fish by observing the different types of the guns employed 
and sketching their position and the radius of fire allowed to 
take them by the splay of their embrasures; also we took sound¬ 
ings where necessary and made sketch maps of possible landing 
places for attacking or other purposes. 

SORE FEET. 

Bosnia and Herzegovina were under Austrian protection and 
were supplying a new contingent of infantry to the Austrian 
army. This force was said to have most marvellous powers of 
marching and endurance, something hitherto unheard of among 
European nations. I was told off to ascertain how great these 
powers might be and what was the secret of their success. 

I visited them in their own country. But before I arrived 
there I had passed through Montenegro, and I had there re¬ 
ceived reports from Montenegrins, which to some extent dis¬ 
counted the high praise given to them. When I asked a Monte¬ 
negrin his opinion of his neighbours in the matter of marching 
and hill climbing, he could only contemptuously spit. And then 
he explained to me that any fool can go uphill, but a Montenegrin 
is the only man who can go downhill. 

He pointed to the round tower in Cettinje, and told me within 
it lay several piles of Turks’ heads, for the reason that every 
Montenegrin who could show a heap of nine Turks’ heads gath¬ 
ered by himself was entitled to a gold medal from the Prince. 

Their method of gaining Turks’ heads was this: 

A party of them would make a raid into Turkish territory 
and get a few cattle or women. They would then be pursued by 
the Turks into the mountains, and they would make their way 
hurriedly up the mountain side just sufficiently far ahead to lead 
the Turks on to pursue them eagerly. When the Turks had be¬ 
come well strung out in the pursuit, the Montenegrins would 
suddenly turn on them and charge down the mountain side. 

There was no escape for the Turks. They were onlv ordinary 
mortals, and could not run downhill. And he showed me his 
great bare knee, and slapping it with pride, he said: “That 
is what takes you downhill, and no other nation has a knee like 
the Montenegrins. And as for the Bosnians-” then he spat! 

However, as the Bosnians were reported to be doing such great 
things in the marching line for the Austrian army, my next step 
was to visit the Austrian manoeuvres and watch them. 

It is usual for a military attache to be sent officially to watch 
such manoeuvres, and he is the guest of the Government con¬ 
cerned. But in that position it is very difficult for him to see be¬ 
hind the scenes. He is only shown what they want him to see. 
My duty was. to go behind the scenes as much as possible and 
get other points of view. 

I accordingly attached myself to a squad of infantry, with 


38 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


whom I spent a couple of days and nights. I had come to a cer¬ 
tain town, and could find no room in the place where I could 
sleep. The hotels were crammed, and even in the shops men 
were billeted to sleep on and under the counters, as also in 
every garret and archway in the place. 

Finally I went to the station and asked the stationmaster if I 
could sleep in a railway carriage. He informed me that all 
these were filled with troops; but one of the railway men who 
came from the signal-box a short way down the line took pity 
on me, and told me if I liked there was his cabin, which I could 
share with his brother, who was a corporal, and his squad of 
men, and that I might find room to lie down there. 

I gladly climbed the steps into the signal-box, and was made 
welcome by the corporal and his men in sharing their supplies, 
and after supper and a chat I bedded down amongst them. 

It was interesting to see how conscientiously this little party 
did its work. At every hour during the night the corporal went 
out and inspected his sentry, just as if on active service, and 
patrols were frequent and reports handed in, although no officer 
ever came near the place. 

During the next two days we had plenty of experience of 
marching and counter-marching, firing and charging; but going 
along in the rear of the immense mass of troops one soon realised 
what enormous wastage there is in stragglers, and especially 
those with sore feet. So much so was this the case that wagons 
came along, picked up the sore-footed men, .and carried them 
back to the railway, where every evening a special train was in 
attendance to convey them back to their garrison. 

A few that were missed out by this operation on the field were 
collected into their field hospitals, and thus the numbers shown 
every day to the general staff of men admitted to hospital for 
sore feet was very small indeed compared with the number that 
were actually put out of action from that cause. 

It was soon quite evident that my friend the Montenegrin had 
not spat without reason, and that the Bosnians were no harder 
in their feet than the other nationalities in that variegated army. 

AUSTRIAN OFFICERS. 

I had a very strong fellow feeling for the Austrian army and 
its officers. They were so very much like our own, but far more 
amateurish in their knowledge and methods of leading; as old- 
fashioned as the hills, and liable to make mistakes at every 
turn. 

The only one who seemed to realise this was the aged Em¬ 
peror himself, and when he came flying along it was very like 
the Duke of Cambridge at his best with a thunderstorm raging. 

The army was then commanded by Arch Dukes, aged men as 
a rule, and all intensely nervous as to what the Emperor would 
think of them when he came along. One could tell when he was 
coming by watching the feathers in their helmets. An Arch 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


39 


Duke would look very brave in all his war paint, but if you 
watched the green feather above him closely you might notice it 
trembling with a distinct shiver when the Emperor was any¬ 
where in the neighbourhood. 

Their old-fashioned methods and amateurish leading seem to 
be paying a heavy price in the present campaign. 

CONCLUSION. 

Enough has been said to show that spying is no vague bogey, 
but a practical fact, and one which has been developed on a big 
scale by the Germans as an integral part of their system of war¬ 
fare. 

We have therefore to expect it and to provide for it. As 
Lord Charles Beresford has recently said, “ Precaution, but not 
necessarily persecution ” against the stranger within our gates is 
essential. 

“ Spy-fever ” need not degenerate into panic. Give the devil 
his due, and let us admit that spying in some of its branches is 
not so mean and despicable a pursuit as it is painted: the spy is 
a daring fellow and may do work of incalculable value for his 
country unless a keen watch is kept to prevent him. 

THE VALUE OF HIDE-AND-SEEK. 

The game of Hide-and-Seek is really one of the best games 
for a boy, and can be elaborated until it becomes scouting in the 
field. It teaches you a lot. 

I was strongly addicted to it as a child, and the craft learned in 
that innocent field of sport has stood me in good stead in many 
a critical time since. To lie flat in a furrow among the currant 
bushes when I had not time to reach the neighbouring box 
bushes before the pursuer came in sight taught me the value of 
not using the most obvious cover, since it would at once be 
searched. The hunters went at once to the box bushes as the 
likely spot, while I could watch their doings from among the 
stems of the currant bushes. 

Often I have seen hostile Scouts searching the obvious bits 
of cover, but they did not find me there; and, like the elephant 
hunter among the fern trees, or a boar in a cotton cron, so a boy 
in the currant bushes is invisible to the enemy, while he can 
watch every move of the enemy’s legs. 

This I found of value when I came to be pursued by mounted 
military police, who suspected me of being a spy at some man¬ 
oeuvres abroad. After a rare chase I scrambled over a wall and 
dropped into an orchard of low fruit trees. Here squatting in a 
ditch, I watched the legs of the gendarmes’ horses while they 
quartered the plantation, and when they drew away from me I 
crept to the bank of a deep water channel which formed one of 
the boundaries of the enclosure. Here I found a small plank 
bridge by which I could cross, but before doing so I loosened the 
near end, and passed over, dragging the plank after me. 


40 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


On the far side the country was open, and before I had gone 
far the gendarmes spied me, and after a hurried consultation, 
dashed off at a gallop for the nearest bridge, half a mile away. 
I promptly turned back, replaced my bridge and recrossed the 
stream, throwing the plank into the river, and made my way 
past the village to the next station down the line while the horse¬ 
men were still hunting for me in the wrong place. 

Another secret that one picked up at the game of Hide-and- 
Seek was, if possible, to get above the level of the hunter’s eye, 
and to “ freeze ”— that is, to sit tight without a movement, and, 
although not in actual concealment, you are very apt to escape 
notice by so doing. I found it out long ago bv lying flat along 
the top of an ivy-clad wall when my pursuers passed within a 
few feet of me without looking up at me. I put it to the proof 
later on by sitting on a bank beside the road, just above the 
height of a man, but so near that I might have touched a 
passer-by with a fishing-rod; and there I sat without any con¬ 
cealment and counted fifty wayfarers, out of whom no more 
than eleven noticed me. 

The knowledge of this fact came in useful on one of my in¬ 
vestigating tours. Inside a great high wall lay a dockyard in 
which, it was rumoured, a new power-house was being erected, 
and possibly a dry dock was in course of preparation. 

It was early morning; the gates were just opened; the work¬ 
men were beginning to arrive, and several carts of materials 
were waiting to come in. Seizing the opportunity of the gates 
being open, I gave a hurried glance in, as any ordinary passer-by 
might do. I was promptly ejected by the policeman on duty in 
the lodge. 

I did not go far. My intention was to get inside somehow and 
to see what I could. I watched the first of the carts go in, and 
noticed that the policeman was busily engaged in talking to the 
leading wagoner, while the second began to pass through the 
gate. In a moment I jumped alongside it on the side opposite 
to the janitor, and so passed in and continued to walk with the 
vehicle as it turned to the right and wound its way round the 
new building in course of construction. 

I then noticed another policeman ahead of me and so I kept 
my position by the cart, readapting its cover in order to avoid 
him. Unfortunately in rounding the comer I was spied by the 
first policeman, and he immediately began to shout to me (see 
map). I was deaf to his remarks and walked on as unconcernedly 
as a guilty being could till I placed the corner of the new build¬ 
ing between him and me. Then I fairly hooked it along the 
back of the building and rounded the far corner of it. As I did 
so I saw out of the tail of my eye that he was coming full speed 
after me and was calling policeman No. 2 to his aid. I darted 
like a red shank round the next corner out of sight of both 
policemen, and looked for a method of escape. 

The scaffolding of the new house towered above me, and a lad¬ 
der led upwards on to it. Up this I went like a lamplighter, 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


4i 


keeping one eye on the corner of the building lest I should be 
followed. 

I was half-way up when round the corner came one of the 
policeman. I at once “ froze.” I was about fifteen feet about 
sea level and not twenty yards from him. He stood undecided 
with his legs well apart, peering from side to side in every direc¬ 
tion to see where I had gone, very anxious and shifty. I was 
equally anxious but immovable. 

Presently he drew nearer to the ladder, and, strangely enough, 
I felt safer when he came below me, and he passed almost under 
me, looking in at the doorways of the unfinished building. Then 


1 

DOCK YARD 




d*y 

OQC.K, 


• • •• A 

/n 
| !&• » 
'.i—' :> - 


,T 





jt>OWER HOUSE 
i ur\de«" 

• construction 

%T~~~- % 

— 

•- it 




5ME.O 
^ tn 


ft 


*2 


t-U. 


R. />N D 

Fig. 16. 


he doubtfully turned and looked back at a shed behind him, think¬ 
ing I might have gone in there, and finally started off, and ran 
on round the next comer of the building. The moment he dis¬ 
appeared I finished the rest of my run up the ladder and safely 
reached the platform of the scaffolding. 

The workmen were not yet upon the building, so I had the 
whole place to myself. My first act was to look for another 
ladder as a line of escape in case of being chased. It js always 
well to have a back door to your hiding place; that is one of 
the essentials in scouting. 

Presently I found a short ladder leading from my platform to 
the stage below, but it did not go to the ground. Peering quietly 
over the scaffolding, I saw my friend the policeman below, still 
at fault. I blessed my stars that he was no tracker, and there¬ 
fore had not seen my footmarks leading to the foot of the lad¬ 
der. 































42 


THE REMINISCENCES OF A SPY 


Then I proceeded to take note of my surroundings and to 
gather information. Judging from the design of the building, its 
great chimneys, etc., I was actually on the new power-house. 
From my post I had an excellent view over the dockyard, and 
within ioo feet of me were the excavation works of the new 
dock, whose dimensions I could easily estimate. 

I whipped out my prismatic compass and quickly took the 
bearings of two conspicuous points on the neighbouring hills, 
and so fixed the position which could be marked on a large scale 
map for purposes of shelling the place, if desired. 

Meantime my pursuer had called the other policeman to him, 
and they were in close confabulation immediately below nte, 
where I could watch them through a crack between two of the 
foot-boards. They had evidently come to the conclusion that I 
was not in the power-house as the interior was fully open to 
view, and they had had a good look into it. Their next step 
was to examine the goods shed close by, which was evidently 
full of building lumber, etc. 

One man went into it while the other remained outside on the 
line that I should probably take for escaping, that is, between it 
and the boundary wall leading to the gateway. By accident 
rather than by design he stood close to the foot of my ladder, and 
thus cut off my retreat in that direction. While they were thus 
busy they were leaving the gate unguarded, and I thought it was 
too good a chance to be missed, so, returning along the scaffold¬ 
ing until I reached the small ladder, I climbed down this on to 
the lower story, and, seeing no one about, I quickly swarmed 
down one of the scaffolding poles and Landed safely on the 
ground close behind the big chimney of the building. 

Here I was out of sight, although not far from the policeman 
guarding the ladder; and, taking care to keep the corner of the 
building between us, I made my way round to the back of the 
lodge, and then, making a dash for it, slipped out of the gate 
without being seen. 




























































































































































































































































































































